Tetsuro Matsuzawa

Taken on April 8, 2015

View of the large and complex climbing structures in the outdoor enclosure, just one area of the PRI chimps' living space.

It is here that the PRI chimpanzees spend much of their day, 3 generations in one group - divided into fission-fusion parties. Their living-space contains trees, ground covered in natural vegetation, a stream, and a 15m high three-dimensional climbing structure. Chimpanzees in the wild spend more than half of their day in the trees, as high as 30m above the ground. So, it is highly recommended to build three-dimensional climbing structures in captive chimpanzees' living environments with the aim of facilitating behaviors consistent with the life-style of wild chimpanzees.

Aerial View of PRI chimps' living space

There are three zones, each with different functions: the green cage (to the left of the photo), a silver cage (towards the rear of the photo), and an outdoor enclosure (to the right of the photo). Because all these zones are inter-connected, our PRI chimps are free to choose their "habitat" (cage/enclosure) and to be with several group members (or stay alone if they prefer), like chimpanzees in the wild. At over ten meters above the base of the green cage, we have set up four arrays of touch-screen stations so that our PRI chimps can drop by and do the cognitive tests and get tiny food rewards (e.g. an 8mm cube of apple, for each correct answer). Using the automated face recognition system, we can automatically run tasks of different levels/type for particular chimpanzees. We maintain and accumulate record-logs of all chimpanzees' tasks automatically; Thus, we can figure out the calories consumed according to the exact amount that each chimpanzee ate during their cognitive tasks.

Provided by Misato Hayashi on March 24, 2015